Tell your legislator to help save bees from toxic pesticides!

This bill would remove neonicotinoid pesticides from consumer use. It would be a big step forward in the fight to save bees, which pollinate one in every three bites of food that we eat. We need your help to make sure it passes in the state Senate!

Tell your legislator to cosponsor the Massachusetts Pollinator Protection Act!

Dear legislator,

I am a constituent and I urge you to cosponsor S.2164-An Act Protecting Massachusetts Pollinators. This bill would place bee-killing neonicotinoid pesticides only in the hands of those trained to use them. It would also place limits on the timing of use and set up parameters for education and training of licensed users in recognition of the significant drops in the populations of honeybees and other native pollinators in recent years and the growing scientific consensus around the harmful effects of neonicotinoid pesticides.

S.2164 is companion legislation to Representative Dykema’s bill H.2113 — An Act Protecting Massachusetts Pollinators. This bill is widely supported by beekeepers, farmers and constituents across the state. Plus, it is widely supported by Massachusetts legislators with 135 legislators from both sides of the aisle co-sponsoring the bill.

This bill has widespread support because the Massachusetts community recognizes the importance of bees and other pollinators to sustainable agriculture in Massachusetts. The state produces $492 million in agricultural products annually, which is reliant on pollinators.

Unfortunately, bees and other pollinators are in great peril and populations are dwindling worldwide. A large and growing body of science has implicated neonicotinoids as a leading factor of their decline. These pesticides are widely used in agriculture on 140 crops and in gardens and landscapes. Acute exposure to these pesticides can directly kill bees and make them more vulnerable to pests, pathogens and other stressors while impairing their foraging and feeding abilities, reproduction and memory.

This summer more than 60,000 bees died suddenly in Rehoboth. Beekeepers are saying the cause is likely pesticide contamination. This bill could help prevent future sudden bee losses like this one.

The science is clear these pesticides contribute to bee declines. Just last week, The Task Force on Systemic Pesticides, a global body of independent scientistsreleased a follow-up meta-study on neonicotinoids and other systemic insecticides. The new assessment found even broader impacts and reinforced their 2015 conclusions. The scientists concluded that neonicotinoids represent a major worldwide threat to biodiversity and ecosystems and called for an immediate stop to agricultural uses of systemic pesticides. The science is clear that we must stop using these pesticides to prevent any further environmental destruction.

It is vitally important that you cosponsor S.2164-An Act Protecting Massachusetts Pollinators and advocate for its passage this year. This bill takes important steps to help protect the health of people and pollinators in Massachusetts and keeps the state beekeepers, wildlife, food system and environment healthy and thriving.

This bill currently sits in the Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources, and Agriculture. It is expected to receive a hearing in October. I urge you to cosponsor the bill and urge the committee to pass it favorably.

Please cosponsor S. 2164-An Act Protecting Massachusetts Pollinators. To cosponsor this bill, contact Senator Eldridge’s office.

Sincerely,

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